It Takes Two to Tango
by Maja Elisabeth
Summary: It wasn't entirely Mac's fault, but most of it was actually.
1. Chapter 1

Title: It Takes Two to Tango  
Author: Maja Elisabeth  
Summary: It wasn't entirely Mac's fault, but most of it was actually.  
Pairing: Smacked – Stella/Mac  
Rating: K+  
Genre: Romance/General  
Disclaimer: Own nothing but the idea.  
Feedback: Yes please :D

* * *

Stella let her hand graze over her bulging baby mound which seemed to be enormous from her point of view. Already for four days ago the baby had positioned itself in a birthing position, with the head downwards, ready to be born. But it hadn't been, not even a small contraction had rushed through her body, that could hint about a labor, yet.

She was two days over due, the doctor said that the baby would probably be born on 16:th of November, but here she was – November the 18:th, fat, uncomfortable, tired, and fed up. Quite annoyed over the situation she was in she sighed and threw two pop-corns into her mouth and chewed carefully.

The last five nights she hadn't been able to sleep through the whole night, almost every hour she had to get up to use the bathroom, it was a real pain to have somebody fighting over the space near her bladder 24/7.

Stella could still remember the look on Mac's face when she'd told him the news; after a half year of trying, when they'd almost given up then the two blue lines appeared on the stick. He had beamed, yes, the Mac Taylor had beamed, his whole face had lit up and he'd given her one of the brightest smiles she'd ever seen.

When she'd passed seven months Mac said that he rather wanted her to be home than in the lab, of course it was something they both disagreed on. Stella thought that she actually could work until the very minute her water broke, but Mac would want her to say at home. But later Stella agreed to just being around his office and do some paperwork.

But now she was happy that she decided not to argue about if she would go to work or not today, he would say that she absolutely not should even think about putting her foot down in his lab, and just because he would say no, she would therefore annoy him and do the complete opposite. She yawned and twisted one of her honey colored curls between her thumb and forefinger.

The police drama she were watching on the TV was now replaced by a blond haired woman who tried to convince her to buy a new brand of shampoo. Stella shot a glance at the clock on the wall, it was pretty late, Mac had promised to be home early, and bring some Chinese food with him. Just the thought of food made her stomach create odd sounds.

_

* * *

_

Mac knew she was asleep when he entered the door to their apartment. If she'd been awake, he would have heard it. Either would the TV be on, maybe the radio or something else that would indicate that she was awake. The pregnancy had been tiring for her, but he also knew that she was determined to show him that she could do as much now as she could do before she got pregnant. She didn't need to be monitored the whole time, Stella had said dryly once when he'd insisted that she could sit in his office and do her paperwork.

He put the luke-warm Chinese food on the kitchen counter, and walked out to the living room to find her half lying on her back on the leather couch with a bag of pop-corns dropped on the floor and pop-corns sprinkled over the living room floor and all over her too. Her mouth was half opened and she snored lightly. Stella wore one of his old T-shirt, one of those which had gotten soft from repeatedly washing, and a pair of over sized sweat pants. Even though the T-shirt was too big for her over her shoulders and chest, it was tight over her swollen stomach. It looked like she was ready to burst at any time now. And he knew it could be a minute from now or a week, but he hoped that he wouldn't have to wait a week to meet the new life he and Stella had created together.

Without knowing it, he'd gotten one of those happy-silly smiles planted on his lips. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. His wife with her curly hair pointing out in all the directions of the compass, wearing his old clothes, heavy carrying their first child.

"I know you are watching" she murmured and opened her eyes.

Mac smiled and sat down beside her on the couch. "How are you?"

"My back hurts, my own clothes doesn't fit, and I can't even see my feet" Stella mock whined and looked at him with eyes that hinted about that she wanted him to do something about it. "Look what you did to me Taylor!"

"What did I do?" He took both of her feet and rubbed them gently.

"You did this to me!" Stella pointed to her protruding belly.

"No, no Stell," Mac smirked and started to knead her feet a little bit harder, and just the way she loved it. "it takes two to tango, you know"

"Hmmm..." Her eyelids fluttered, she was still quite tried. Okay it wasn't entirely Mac's fault, but most of it was, however she was willing to let it be, only if he was planning to massage her feet like that for the rest of the evening.

* * *

Feel free to drop me a line if you want :) Thanks for reading /_Maja E_.


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: I know I said this was completed, but some of you were persistent and wanted this to continue. (I'm not impossible to negotiate with all the time xD) All my pregnancy-fluff is thanks to my previous dressage trainer, she's going to have a baby in any day now^^ I'm so happy for her (and her husband of course!) Those two are my biggest insperation source for the moment, with all their cute bantering :3. N - her husband is convinced that it's going to be a boy, but M thinks it's a girl, and I really hope it's a girl! :D

* * *

"Are you still watching this film?" Stella half asked and half stated as she waddled into the living room to find her husband sprawled out on the couch watching a Spiderman movie.

"No, no, not the same film" Mac corrected her, as she tried to sit down as smoothly as she could but her bulging belly made her almost as flexible as a refrigerator. "This is Spiderman 3"

"Is there a special reason why you are watching the whole Spiderman trilogy in one night?" Stella sat down with a thump on the sofa, all intentions of being gentle was blown away as she realized that it was no such option to be given.

"Yes" Mac's eyes were glued to the screen where Tobey Maguire swung himself from skyscrape to skyscrape in New York City.

"...And that is?" she arched a brow, and laid down beside him.

Stella felt how his hands sought its way to her stomach, slightly touching it.

"What if it's a boy" he said, and caressed her stomach. "Then I need to know all this stuff, being all familiar with what boys now a days likes."

She couldn't help but smirk.

"So you are watching Spiderman to be able to be a good dad?"

"Pretty much, yes"

Stella tried to turn around to face him, which was a bit hard, because the couch wasn't that wide, and her belly took most of the space on it, but eventually she could face him.

He saw her, and how she was ready to burst into a loud laugh at any time now.

"I don't know what kids are into" Mac shrugged and defended himself. "And besides it's a good movie, you should watch it"

"Thought you liked more reality-based movies or documentaries" she teased, and brushed away a imaginary hair on his gray T-shirt. "... But this explains why you weren't switching over to the news when it was Sponge Bob this morning, and actually cared to read the cartoon stripes in the news paper today!" Stella laughed and pinched his arm lightly to get an reaction from him.

"And I'm going to be one of those embarrassing dads, who wear old fashion clothes, showing pictures of him when he was a kid in front of all his buddies." he mocked with a smirk on his face.

"That's not necessary"

"But that's my job, to be a dad Stell"

"You're already embarrassing enough, with or without old fashioned clothes" she joked, but her heart melted at the same time hearing his words, knowing that Mac was taking this so seriously, that he wanted to be a good dad. And she was convinced that he would succeed, more than well. Exceptionally.

* * *

"Mac, what if it's a girl?" Stella poked his stomach minutes later.

"It won't be"

"How can you be so sure? You know nothing more than I do!" she poked him harder.

"I can feel it, it's going to be a boy" he said and sounded sure about it too. "It's going to be a boy, who likes fast cars and Spiderman!"

"No" she grinned. "I'm sure it'll be a girl who likes cute ponies and dancing ballet"

"If that's true," Mac pushed away one of her curls that had escaped from her pony tail. "then I have watched Sponge Bob in vain"

"I'm sure you'll make a great dad anyway" she said and kissed his lips softly.

* * *

Thanks for reading, and feel free to drop me a line if you want to :D /_Maja E._


	3. Chapter 3

A/n: Hey everybody out there! Sorry for the delay of this chapter, but I really wanted to know what sex M & N's (my previous dressage trainer) child was so I could write this! And * was born this Thursday, and is the cutest thing ever :3 I'm so happy for them! Congratulations!

* * *

"Mac, I think it's time" he heard her panting at the other line of the phone.

"What?" Mac asked stupidly even though he knew exactly what she meant.

"A space ship landed on our balcony, and out stepped Elvis Presley and Donald Duck!" Stella hissed ironically. "No, my water broke!"

"Ok … hold on, I'll be there in any minute" he stammered, of course it shouldn't be a surprise that Stella could go into labor in any moment now, she was already a week over due, and she had let him know that let's say two times each hour, so he surely hadn't forgotten it.

But now it seemed so unrealistic, what they all had been waiting for, for nine months, the little life they'd created was finally ready to be born.

Ten minutes later when Mac arrived home, he found his wife bend over the living room couch, leaning over it for support and groaning in pain.

"Stell," she looked up and their eyes met, her emerald green eyes were pierced with pain and fear, and he understood her – after 25 years as a cop and 15 as a detective he'd never been put in a situation like this, even though he'd been through odd things. This was far more frightening and nervous than his first day at the NYC crime lab. Everybody gets anxious and nervous when they are put in a new and different situation. "how are you feeling?"

"Wonderful!" another ironic comment escaped from her lips. Not that he could blame her, stupid questions gets stupid answers or what was it called?

Mac gently rubbed her back as another contraction surged through her body, and wiped away the sweat that had begun to form on her eyebrows with his sleeve.

"For how long has it been going on?"

"Since this morning" Mac was glad that he didn't get an sarcastic state from her.

"This morning? Why didn't you say anything to me?"

Stella breathed heavily and waited a while before answering. "I thought it was a false alarm, Braxton Hicks you know"

"You could have called me earlier" Mac was a little bit annoyed over the fact that she'd let it go this far before even thought about calling him.

"At first, they weren't so strong and I got back to sleep," she paused to regain her breath a little bit more before talking again. "and then when I woke up the contractions were coming in a stronger level, then I was supposed to make breakfast and then my water broke, and – and, oh shit"

Stella grabbed a fistful of his shirt and tried to steady herself as another contraction hit her.

"You know Stell," he tried not to wince as she accidentally twisted his nipple as she'd grasped his shirt. "I think it's time to go to the hospital"

"Yeah, I think so too" she pinched a little harder as the contraction had subsided.

"Hey!" he muttered. "You did that on purpose!"

"Of course" Stella arched a brow pretended to be confused. "Don't look at me like I'm the only one who's going to be in pain here"

* * *

"Mac Taylor I swear we are never going to have anymore children!" Stella hissed as the doctor had announced that it she could start to push now.

"Take it easy Stell, breathe" he tried to calm her down, though he had a feeling that she'd just threw out empty threats for the moment.

"And then we're going to sterilize you Taylor!" Stella squeezed his hand tighter, and hopefully harder she thought.

"Okay, Mrs Taylor we're almost there now" the doctor encouraged her. "Just a few more pushes."

"Oh my God!" Stella moaned out loud as she felt herself stretching to the limit.

"Just one more now"

"You are doing great" Mac kissed her forehead, he could hardly feel his left hand, as Stella had made it very clear back home that she wasn't the only one who should suffer through this. And his poor hand felt like it had been put in a vice and twisted around, or something much similar to it.

"And here it comes" Just after a few seconds the scream of a new born baby was heard through out the whole room. "Would daddy like to cut the cord?"

Without knowing it, small tears had escaped from the corner of his eyes as he was left his wife's side to regard one of the seven miracles.

"It's a girl" he sniffed, as he watched his adorable little baby girl.

"I knew it," Stella beamed. "unless you didn't cut off the wrong thing that is."

* * *

Thanks for all the love and support! _Maja Elisabeth. I consider this completed now_


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